COPEMETOPEA CL.

COPEMETOPEA CL. NOV.

Diagnosis: Body size relatively large; conical in shape, wide anteriorly, tapering posteriorly, with rounded posterior end; cytostome wide at the front, ~50% of body length; macronucleus usually in two equally elongated nodules; micronuclei small, spherical and of the compact type, numerous; in the cytoplasm, numerous slightly elongated symbiontophorous vacuoles carrying bacteria (with two different species); somatic kineties composed of dikinetids, also with some polykinetids (triplets or even up to six kinetids in the same unit); postciliary microtubules well developed, not forming postciliodesma; two sets of transverse microtubules; a row of long, whip-like ciliary units (moustache) inserted on an outer border of the buccal cavity over oral polykinetids, without any connection with them; dorsal brush consisting of dense rows of longer somatic cilia beneath the anterior cell pole, on the right side; left serial oral polykinetids looking like a classical AZM; paroral infraciliature as a long row of kinetosomal triplets; from anoxic brackish water to marine sediments; one order: Copemetopida .